Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle Reading App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Best Easy Day Hikes Yosemite National Park includes concise descriptions and detailed maps for twenty-four easy-to-follow hikes through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. Choose from hikes throughout the park, from Yosemite Valley, the Wawona area, and Glacier Point Road to Tioga Road, Tuolumne Meadows, and Hetch Hetchy.

About the Author

Suzanne Swedo, director of W.I.L.D., teaches wilderness survival and natural sciences at universities, museums, and organizations such as Yosemite Association and the Sierra Club. She has backpacked the mountains of every continent and led groups into the wilderness for over twenty-five years. Her books include Wilderness Survival, Hiking California's Golden Trout Wilderness, Hiking Yosemite National Park, and Adventure Travel Tips (Falcon).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Yosemite National Park is one of the premier hiking destinations in the Western United States. But most people do not come to hike but rather to gawk at the wonderful scenery they can see right from their car (and tour bus) windows. This little book is written for these tourists and for anyone else who simply does not have the time to take a week long trip in the park. Already in its third edition, it is easily the most popular of the "Best Easy Day Hikes" series by Falcon Press. And it is not hard to see why. Author Suzanne Swedo treats readers to 24 walks throughout the park that are accessible to nearly everyone. No hike is more than 5 miles and all offer incredible scenery.

That said, a few caveats are in order. Yosemite is also one of the most heavily visited parks in the western United States and most of these trails see heavy traffic. For those like myself who view hiking as something of a social experience, this will be fine but others seeking solitude may want to visit in mid week or off season only. In addition, those who own earlier editions should note that this book is almost identical to the 2cd edition. GPS coordinates have been added to the trail heads but this isn't really necessary. Other than that, I found only a few minor changes to the text. One thing that did not change was the misleading mileage for the loop at Yosemite Falls. The trail to the Falls used to be a quick out and back, about .6 miles. Since the flood of 1997 the route is now a circular loop of 1.1 miles, but Swedo still lists it as .6. Still, this is a fine book for introducing time constrained travelers to the wonders of this park. Detailed maps and normally accurate mileage points more than make up for this one mistake. Cavils aside, I strongly recommend this book. It is the best of the "short" hiking books for Yosemite.

This book was exactly what we need for our recent hiking trip to Yosemite. We took 3 of the hikes described and it was perfect information. In fact, so good that I just bought the same guide for our hiking trip to Oahu Hawaii.

While the Frommer's guide to Yosemite has basic information about the most popular hikes, this book goes into more detail, providing drawings of the trails, the points of interest while on the trail, as well as the ease or difficulty of the hike, the views, and the approximate time needed for the hikes. Such details helped us plan our trip to include more than the regular tourist hikes and to determine what hikes we could handle, being less experienced hikers. While in the park, I packed the book in my backpack, and referenced it often. It's a great tool for those who want to plan a more successful trip to Yosemite and take advancage of its famous trails.

A great book with information you need to find the trail and what to expect from the point of view of travelling.I would also appreciate some short info that would allow also to make a choice regarding views, items of interest, etc. without reading the whole text (probably some scenic rating?) and referring to other sources. Frankly speaking there is space for some photographs too, that would help.Small, fits into any pocket, highly recommended.